Flame on

A concise history of the development and use of incendiary weapons--flamethrowers, incendiary bombs, napalm, and more--by the American military in the twentieth century, with a focus on World War II. * Describes how the U.S. created its incendiary weapons program virtually from scratch during World War II * Pivotal episodes include Omaha Beach on D-Day and the skilled performance of an armored flamethrower battalion in the Pacific * Also covers the history of incendiaries from ancient times to World War II and through Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm

Flame On: U.S. Incendiary Weapons, 1918-1945, by Brig. Gen. John Mountcastle, USA Ret., is a concise and comprehensive history of the development and use of incendiary weapons (including flamethrowers, incendiary bombs, napalm, and more) by the American military in the twentieth century, with a special focus on World War II. . . . The latest addition to the simply outstanding Stackpole Military History series, Flame On is enhanced with the inclusion of twenty-eight pages of notes, a thirty-four page bibliography, and a comprehensive index. Impressively well researched, written, organized, and presented, Flame On is a critically important and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library American military history reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.  , James A. Cox

Brig. Gen. John Mountcastle, USA (Ret.), was the U.S. Army's chief of military history from 1994 to 1998. A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and Duke University and a veteran of Vietnam, he also taught at West Point. He lives near Richmond, Virginia.